On the Other Side
by LadyPoetica
Summary: Gaara of the desert was lost at the age of six but , in another world a young boy was hit by a car and forgot his memories. Now , Justin Tuner lives with his adopted family , goes to school and is even on a basketball team, but even he cant ignore the nagging feeling that something in his life is missing. And when when the past comes back, Justin gets more than he asked for.
1. My Name is Justin Tuner

_ I don't remember much from my old life, bits of beige colored buildings and a sky so blue it was almost too blue. I have a few more memories from before the accident but said that I really shouldn't focus on it. I guess I should introduce myself; my name is Justin, Justin Tuner. I'm seventeen years old, the middle child of the Tuner's , and their only adopted son. My mother is Mary Tuner and my father is Henry Tuner, who has two more children, my older brother William and my younger sister Sara. All of us together created a very normal family, mundane even, truthfully. _

The shill sound of a bedside alarm-clock was always the first thing to go off in Justin's room every day signaling that it was five-thirty in the morning. The next sound was that of a deep groan. In the bed next to the alarm-clock, Justin rolled over, stretching and cracking his body as he attempted to arise from his bed and get ready for the day.

"Justin?" A knock at the door asked, "Are you awake?"

Justin turned his glazed eyes over to the door and sat up, trying to remember the dream that he had just had. Every morning it was like this, he remembers some weird scene but nothing other than that, try as he might.

"Justin! Are you up?"

"I'm up Mom!" He called out to the woman on the other side of the door. Justin pulled himself out of bed and proceeded to throw some dirty clothes off the floor, attempting to find one clean uniform in the never-ending, clustered piles that covered a large part of his bedroom floor and found a pair of slacks. Sniffing them, he decided that they didn't give off too much of a funky smell before slipping them on and buttoning them around his hips.

"How on earth can you find anything in here?"

Justin turned to his Mother, who had just attempted to open his door against a towering wave of laundry. She handed Justin a white button up shirt, still warm from a drying cycle.

"So, what's on tap for today?" Her smile warming up her face.

"School" Justin shrugged, pulling the shirt over his head not bothering to tuck it into his pants before grabbing a jacket too.

"Well I know that" Mary Tuner's eyes sparked as the beginnings of laugh lines appeared. She shook her head that the sleepy teen, "Do you have practice today?"

"Ya, coach is calling us right after school until about six, can I have the car?" Justin looked hopeful at the idea, but that was quickly dashed as Mrs. Tuner walked down the hall grinning to herself, "you're so silly Justin."

"I wasn't joking?" He tried after she had already descended the stairs. God I hate these uniforms. Justin checked himself out in his mirror, tugging at his trousers at trying to straighten some of the wrinkles.

Justin had always been rather dissatisfied with his appearance for it always reminded him that he was different. The Tuner family on his father's side had dark brown hair, almost black, that both his siblings inherited. His father and sister both had brown eyes, the color of coffee beans, while his mother shared her eyes with her eldest son, a vibrant hazel.

Justin on the other hand looked nothing like his family, which in a way was expected seeing as he was adopted. Hair the color of cherry licorice seemed too red to be real against skin that was paler than sour milk. It wasn't that he hadn't tried to get a healthy tan, in fact he spent many days during the summer holidays burning underneath the sun, but his skin always peeled and returned to its natural color. Perhaps the most unnerving part of his appearance though was his eyes which where the color of faded jade encircled by dark rings to which everyone attributed to his chronic insomnia , although something at the back of his mind told him it was probably just genetic. The last thing that bothered him about his appearance was the scar that was etched on the left side of his forehead. At first his parents thought it was just an odd-looking scar but as they would soon find out after an eventful afternoon at their favorite farmers market, it was actually a word in Japanese, the word for love. Soon after being informed of that, Justin had come to the decision that he didn't want to meet his birth family , fearing what kind of people would carve the word for love into their child's forehead. In other words , Justin didn't like his appearance because it was just too much, too extreme and too weird to be normal. That was the exact opposite of what he wanted to be . He had enough strange in his life already.

"Breakfast!" His mother's voice resonated as the smell of blueberry waffles wafted up to his room.

"WAFFLES!" a little girl squealed, pigtails bouncing up and down. Sara pushed ahead of Justin who had started to make his way down stairs.

It was going to be a long day, Justin could tell.

"And so if I call you out, raise your hand and I'll toss you a candy "

Justin's head shot up at the mention of sweets that his teacher was handing out. This is why Justin studied for tests and he knew it. He couldn't even pay attention to the other names just hoping he heard his.

"Justin Tuner, hundred percent. Well done!"

Justin's hand shot up to catch the sweet before offering a smile to his favorite English teacher, Mr. Martinez.

"That's all for today, remember to bring your book for Friday, we're doing an in class reading and I want to be able to hear every one of you ." reminded over the sound of the last bell of the day, chatting to each of his students on the way out. Justin walked past but not before his teacher could catch him.

"Fantastic job on the test Justin. You really like the candy I give out, don't you?" grinned.

"You know that's what I live for Sir ," Justin quipped back playfully. His teacher gave a small chuckle as he shook his head side to side, "I'll look forward to your next quiz too, Mr. Tuner."

With that Justin sprinted to practice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~two days later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Can you describe the setting in this dream Justin?" Dr. Foster paused to look up at his patent, waiting for him.

Justin shifted uncomfortably from where he sat, not quite sure of himself. He had always had these dreams but in general, he tended to avoid telling people about because they were just so, _out there_, and it didn't help his case when it came to defending his sanity, something that had been questionable since the day he met the Tuners.

"I don't remember much". Justin trailed off, hopping his psych would just forget out the subject, but alas , he didn't posses such luck.

"Just describe anything. Could be a color or a sound, even a feeling that you had."

Justin stared down at his hands before starting, " I just remember being in a room,one that was just made out of stone . There was a man standing in front of me but I can't make out his face. I was holding a brown bear too."

"Any feelings surrounding the dream?"

"I dunno, disappointment ?"

"Disappointment?"

"I guess I just felt that there was something I had to do, but I couldn't."

"What where you supposed to do?"

Justin shrugged again, counting the seconds until the session was over and he could return to his normal life and forget out his dreams his unknown past, and worst of all, the voice. Ever since he had accidentally let it slip that he heard a voice in his head, he was carted off to different psyches by his mother in hopes that there was something that could help. Truth be told, nothing helped. There was not pill or meditation soundtrack that could turn it off, not that he told anyone that anymore. Justin had learned a long time ago that talking about the voice was not something to do, especially to a school councilor who had just asked you why talk to yourself every now and then. Nope, it was something you kept to yourself.

"Could you hear the voice in the dream?" 's question snapped him out of his thoughts as he shook his head.

"No, I couldn't hear anything. I don't hear the voice anymore, honestly."

"Let's talk about something different, are there any new leads on your past?"

Justin sighed and shook his head. There were never any leads. He had just mysteriously just appeared, no files or missing persons database could find a match. The day that he had first been hit by the Tuner's car was essentially the first day he was born. He didn't remember anything except a vague age of six and general feelings of distrust for those around him. He wasn't surprised that he couldn't remember anything, after getting hit by a car going sixty down a relatively empty highway it was even a miracle that he survived. Especially at the age of six. Justin also had a feeling that it may have contributed to his mental problems, at least he hoped that was the case.

"Nope, same old story. I apparently run out into the street and get hit. Wake up and have no memory of who I am" Justin informed his doctor for what felt like the billionth time. Dr. Foster slipped his glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes before turning them to Justin. He looked as if he was about to say something but stopped, picking up his pens and scribbling something on his pad of paper.

"Is the medication helping?" The doctor asked, not even bothering to look up from his writing. Justin nodded his head but seeing as the doctor wasn't paying him any attention, Justin's confirmation was lost.

"Justin?"

"The meds are fine Doc." But there not working Justin. It was times like these where he really wished the voice would shut up and leave him alone. **You're making your mother sad , Gaara.** _My name isn't ' Gaara', it's Justin. What the hell kind of name it that anyway?_

"Justin!"

The call of his name shocked him out of his thoughts and over to , who had opened up his appointment book on his laptop. Justin stared at him hoping that the doctor would give him some clue about what he had just been asked.

"Uhh, could you repeat that sir?" Justin inquired tentatively, hoping that Foster hadn't noted his inattentiveness.

"What are you doing next week?" looked expectantly at him. Justin stuttered, his mind searching for the answer it had temporarily lost, "I think I'm free next week on Thursday? My next basketball practice is on Friday so coach is giving us a day off."

The doctor just nodded, keying in the data and time for their next appointment while Justin fiddled with his hands, trying to make himself invisible. The clicking sound of the keyboard was making his uneasy and the room had just become unbearable cold.

Foster swiveled around in his chair to look at Justin, concern blatant in his eyes.

"Are we done?" Justin knew that he was being a bit rude bit he really just wanted to get out of that room. The doctor shook his head slightly and Justin quickly jumped from the chair, bade him a good day, and slipped out the door to his awaiting mother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Next day: lunch~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And then she got mad that I had stayed up until two to do my homework!"

Justin laughed at his friends antics. He had many friends but only three best friends; Kenny, Brian, and Jake. He and Jake had gone to the same elementary school, Kenny joined them in middle school, and Brian had been the last to tag long because he had just transferred school that previous year. All four of them made an odd group. Jake had always been the more outgoing one , seeing as his charisma knew no bounds . Kenny had joined their group in the middle of the seventh grade. She was quiet and witty with her comebacks but she also was one of the most loyal friends Justin had. Lastly Brian, with his video games and awkward pop culture references that nobody got, had transferred to their school due to bullying problems thus making him the fourth and last person. Justin honestly didn't know what he'd do without them. When he wasn't at practice or doing homework he was hanging out with one or all of them. They had been his summer and weekends since his adoption by the Tuner family.

"I get yelled at if I don't do my homework and I get yelled at if I do and don't take care of my chores!" Kenny threw her hands up in exasperation, "I can't win with that freakin' woman!"

"What about if you did it when you got home instead of looking at cat videos on the web?" Jake suggested jokingly. Kenny raised her eyebrow and gave him a look that clearly stated how much of an option that was.

"And not be able to keep up with you three at the table? Hell no. anyways, it's not like I even watch cat videos"

"I'm sorry," Jake grinned, "I meant the makeup tutorials". Kenny playfully took a swipe at Jake's head while the entire table laughed.

Justin pulled out his chair, sitting himself between his two parents who sat across from each other. The smell of the food in front of him was tempting and he was eager to help himself.

"So, how was school? Tell me about your day." His father began, taking the bowl of mashed potatoes in front of him and scooping some onto his plate.

"I dunno, I guess it was alright. I had-""today was so exciting! We went to the library and got to pick out any book we liked" Sara interrupted, abruptly cutting off her brother. Her father shot her a look and motioned for Justin to continue.

"I had, " he paused for a second to look at Sara , who shrunk down in her chair , " a history test. I think I did alright."

"Did you study?" His mother questioned. Justin shrugged his shoulders a bit and proceeded to take a huge bite of his dinner. Sara wiggled in her chair a bit , increasingly eager to share how her trip to the school's library had gone, and just as she almost couldn't hold her tongue any longer her father turned his attention to her.

"And I got a book from the fantasy section! It was one of those on huge top-shelf that only the fourth graders can reach" Sara blurted. She then proceeded to tell the entire family all about her day for the rest of dinner until Justin quietly tuned to his mother.

"When's Will getting home?"

looked up from her food and thought for a moment before replying, "I think later tonight, but it could be tomorrow evening as well. You know how busy your brother is with college and his part-time job." Justin acknowledged what she had said before turning his attention back to his sister and her long story of something that had happened in her day. Although he hadn't really been paying any mind to what she said, he nodded and "ah uh " his way through the one-sided conversation, which continued through dinner until it was time to clear the table. Sara suddenly became extremely tired and decided that helping Justin clear the table was just too much work for her, so she bounced her way into her room to get ready for the night.

Justin sighed as he stacked the plates on top each other, ready to get them into the dishwasher quickly so he could play some video games before going to sleep. Footsteps in the kitchen made him turn his head.

"Hey dad"

Justin's father, Henry Tuner, stood in the kitchen rolling up the sleeves of his sweater and reaching a shelf to get a glass.

"That was a great game that you played today in practice" praised his father, "you put some real effort into that. I can see why your coach is proud of you. "

Justin smiled at his father's compliment, something that he always treasured. It was one of those things that made him feel loved and something deep inside that that's really all that mattered. Justin chatted with his father a bit before saying goodnight, trudging up the stairs and into his bathroom. Justin debated taking a second shower even though he had rinsed off after practice but finally came the conclusion that he was okay. Justin glanced at the time on his phone. 11:30 eh? I guess I should take my meds and go to bed. Not that they work. Justin winced at the voice and opened his Medicine cabinet, pulling out three bottles with little orange tags on them. He proceeded to pop his dosage amount into his mouth, swallowing them dry before reaching his head down to take a sip from the tap. Justin caught his gaze in the mirror one last time before turning off the light to go to his room, where he pulled out his game controller and sat back on his bed, turning it over in his hands. It the end, Justin decided that he was as too tired to play anything. Stretching himself out under the covers on his stomach, he turned to his thoughts for tomorrow.

Maybe is right. Maybe I should go and explore more of my past. Justin was puzzled on how to go about this, seeing as he had absolutely nothing to go on. There was no record of him even existing before that day. He barely remembered anything and what he did remember made no sense. He had searched countless books and magazines, trying to find a place that matched the description of what he saw in his head but there simple wasn't anything like it. With nothing to go on, Justin determinate that the best place to start was at the stretch of highway right outside of town, where he had apparently been stumbling out on to the road from. He still felt uneasy though. There wasn't anything significant about that stretch of land. It lay next to the coast and there was only about a few blocks between the pavement and the highway. In between it was just sandy rocks, a small cliff whose drop was about three feet on a good day, and scraggly bushes that caught on your arms, giving them little white lines and small cuts. But as he closed his eyes, Justin ignored the feeling of uneasiness and made plans to go there as soon as he woke up thinking _'Nothing bad is going to happen and I just need to stop freaking myself out' _and he promptly fell asleep.


	2. Marker 38

Justin slipped a protein bar into his back pack , for when he got hungry during his exploration. He hesitated before zipping up the bag, thoughts running through his head like wildfire. He wasn't even sure if it was a good idea to go try to find where he had come from. What if I find dead bodies or something? Justin shook his head of such thoughts , closing the backpack as fast as he could . He paused for a second to scribble a note for his mother, telling her that he was borrowing the car and that he'll be back before four o'clock, hoping that this would make her less mad at the fact that he took the car without asking.

Justin grabbed the keys and silently slid out the door. It was about eight in the morning so that gave him , minus the drive there and back, about six hours to hike around the place. Plenty of time to explore the coast line and maybe get some answers, although he doubted that there would be any this many years later. The ignition grumbled as he turned the key, hoping desperately that his parents wouldn't hear the sound, before driving away .

As he rode along the old highway along the coast, the cold wind blowing through the open window, he searched for the rode marker that was closest to where he had appeared from. Justin knew it was marker thirty-eight but seeing as he was only on marker eleven , he figured he had a few more to go and proceeded to turn the radio on. Fifteen. Twenty-four. Twenty-nine. Thirty-six. Justin was getting close, he could almost feel -eight.

Justin pulled over to the side of the road, the gravel making a crunching sound underneath his tires. Putting the car in park, he sat in the car , gazing over the coast. The overcast skies made the water in the ocean look darker and more blue than usual, which gave as striking contrast the sandy , short overhanging bluff that slowly stretched into a seaside shore. Justin turned the car off and climbed out, grabbing his bag and locking the door behind him. He pushed his hand against the pine colored shrubs , testing how difficult it would be to walk through them.

Justin hadn't been here since the accident . He drove by with his family to go to a beach that presided a few miles up , his mother pointing out where he had suddenly ran out onto the road from the bushes. His father recalled that he had barely enough time to brake before colliding with the six-year old. His brother, Will , often joked that he had flown in the air several feet , describing in detail how is tiny body had been flung about like a rag doll or a dead squirrel before Justin's mother would give him what the brothers had dubbed as 'the look'.

The teen pushed ahead, moving the brittle shrubs away from a small rabbit path that he followed, until he reached the cliff. Justin always laughed when it was called a cliff , when in reality , it couldn't have been more than four feet high. He easily jumped to the shore below, the sand cushioning his feet. So far, Justin could find nothing that seemed like it would help him on his personal investigation. It seemed to be nothing more than a beach. Not even a weird shaped rock or anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

Justin gazed about before concluding that there wasn't anything to help him, so he turned to go back up to his car but stopped abruptly because of what lay before him. A dark hole that swallowed any of the light around him beckoned him to come forward, raising his curiosity to an unhealthy level. A level that defied all reason and logic, which left Justin with no other choice but to go into the cave.

About five seconds into what seemed to be just a small hollow, the cave all of a sudden turned into a cavern. Justin crawled out of the little tunnel and stood against a ledge. The drop he guessed was about seven feet , maybe eight. Justin instantly regretted going into the cave . The whole place was dark and he honestly thought that this might have been the stupidest thing he had ever done in his life. Well, second most thing. The stupidest thing that he had ever done in his life was deciding that he was going to go down to the bottom of the cave, just to see what was down there .

He reached into his pack and pulled out a puny flashlight, the kind you get from that weird aunt at Christmas parties. He directed the light at the bottom of the cavern and found that it reflected of something. Squinting in the darkness, he turned the light again and found that the entire carven was now illuminated by a soft light caused by his flashlight reflecting on a pool of water. Keeping his light trained on the water, Justin hunted for the easiest way to get down , finding that whatever path he took, he was going to be sliding down a steeper gradient than he was comfortable with. Justin slowly situated the light on the top of the cave , making sure that it reflected in the water enough to give a decent amount of light , before attempting to take is first step down. It was much more difficult that he thought it would be and Justin soon found himself slowly making his way down, shifting his weight to his hands as his foot hold gave out from under him. By the time that his foot had finally touched the ground , Justin's hands had little cuts all over them, covered by sandy dirt.

He found that the cave seemed devoid of all things that where creepy and crawling surprising , shivering at the thought of what could have been down here. Justin skittishly walked to the pools edge, squinting in the dim light to get a closer view of what was at the bottom of the pool. He discovered that it was a huge drop-of , and staring into the abyss, he couldn't even see a hint of bedrock through the glassy water. Justin hesitantly reached out his hand , his finger tips almost brushing the surface before he heard something behind his. Justin retracted his hand, hearing something move just out of his sight.

This is it, this is the end. I am so stupid. Stupid, stupid ,stupid. he criticized himself. Paralyzed with fear , Justin could feel the sand beneath him begin to shift . Oh god . He felt something graze his hand , the sensation igniting an absolute panic in his body . Just look down Justin , maybe it's harmless. He glanced down , expecting his doom to come in the form of a big hairy spider or something. What. Justin found himself staring at what appeared to be sand caressing his hand , tugging slightly on his fingers in the direction of a corner of the cavern. A corner that held absolutely no light. Nope. This is even worse, I'm hallucinating. I'm probably blacked out , lying face down on the sand as spiders craw on me.

It wasn't a hallucination though, as he found out when the sand gave a second pull, guiding him to the dark corner of the cave. Justin glanced around , trying to make out a shape in the dark, and he dawdled forward losing his courage with every step . His foot stepped into the darkness, soon followed by the rest of him. All the sudden, the sand stopped. Justin clasped his hands together , relieved that the particles were gone.

What lay before Justin was something he couldn't understand. At first he thought it was just a trick of the light or that his eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness , which turned out not to be the case. He reached down his hands at what seemed to be a stone in the ground , it's cool surface smooth except what looked like some sort of etched writing that was half covered. Justin dusted off the top and sides of the stone, finding that more of it lay hidden beneath the surface, and slowly dug with his hands a small hole next to the stone. Gingerly , Justin pushed against the stone , hoping to work it free from the dirt and when it didn't move , he pushed against it with all his body weight. Justin had just enough time to evade the object that flipped up from the ground . He decided that it was an object, not a rock , judging by it weight and shape. It was some sort of gourd with what seemed to be some sort of tribal symbols carved into it and painted black.

Justin was officially confused now . He had come to this part of the beach to find some clue that could help him uncover his past but all he now had where a ton of questions. He pushed the gourd upright, holding it by the top. His fingers brushed away some more of the sand , uncovering that it was corked. He tried to open it with one hand but it wouldn't budge. Justin also noticed that hanging off the middle part of the gourd was some red fabric, stiff from the abrasive salty air and rough sand. Justin attempted to shake the sand off the material and successfully showered his face with sand, a good portion of it getting on his eyes. Partly blinded, he dropped the gourd , hearing a small popping sound. Oh great, I can't see and the cork is out of the gourd.

Justin sat on the ground behind him , furiously rubbing his eyes , attempting to rid them of sand. With his eyes still temporarily blinded by the sand, Justin heard something move out of the gourd. It rustled the ground, like an it would if spiders or snakes where coming out of it, which is what Justin presumed was coming out. He struggled to move himself back in time before something started crawling on his feet and up his legs. Justin felt absolute panic rise within himself yet his throat refused to utter a sound as it made its way up his chest and neck . Justin closed his eyes, waiting for the enviable as it settled on his face. Except that it never came. The crawling sensation had stopped completely and he found that his eyes where no longer grainy and blurry but that he was perfectly fine. A darkness fell across Justin's mind and he slipped into the abyss.

When Justin finally woke , he patted himself making sure that nothing was still crawling on him before slowly opening his eyes. The flashlight had gone out and the entire cave was dark, except for the small beam of light from where he had come in. It seemed farther away than he remembered and he hoped that he could still find the steep path that lead him up. As Justin's eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cave, he found that the gourd that he had previously been inspecting had recorked itself. Justin sat on the cave floor , thinking about how impossible that was but yet, he saw with his very own eyes that the gourd had somehow managed to put its own cork back in. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the voice snickered in a pretentious way, as if it knew what was going on. Justin found himself questioning his sanity more than ever, really hoping that this was a dream or maybe that he had fallen and was unconscious at the bottom of the cavern. Either situation seemed better than what was going on because this situation was just impossible.

'maybe I should take it home' , he pondered , really asking himself if he wanted to really have a possessed gourd in his house, after all he knew that this was exactly how most horror movies start. Someone does something stupid because of their own curiosity , and they usually end up dead because of it. At the same time, he found another part of him wanted to take the thing home, and against his better judgement that he would.

Justin slowly stood up, careful not to make any sudden movements , fearing that the gourd would attack him again. The gourd itself seemed like any other inanimate object, but Justin wasn't sure of that and he wouldn't take any chances. Attempting to walk as softly and quietly as possible , as if the gourd were a sleeping lion, he inched forward until he reached it. The gourd hadn't moved since he woke up and Justin started to laugh at himself, 'Its a gourd. It's not even like its alive and possessions only take place in movies.' .

Having shaken off his fear, Justin grasped the gourd with one hand on the red fabric and the other on the top of it. He worked it into an upright position, and thinking that it was hard to move because of the tough ground , attempted to swing it over his shoulder in one go .

'Oh my God , what the hell is in here?' He thought after only being able to lift the gourd off the ground about a foot before it became too heavy for his arms. He worked his hands around the fabric, testing its length and strength before concluding that the best way to carry it would be slung over one of his shoulders , having most of the weight fall to the opposite side to keep it on. He squatted down until he was about eye level with the gourd , sliding the red fabric over his left side so it rested on his right shoulder, and then almost fell over when he tried to get up. Justin guessed that the gourd weighed fifty or sixty pounds . With that he turned and started to climb back up the cave wall, the gourd almost tipping him back .

Justin finally made his way out the cave and to his car, before taking note of how dark it was outside . He checked his watch and found that he was about three hours over the planned four o'clock return, 'Shit, my mother's going to get so pissed'. He pulled out his phone and turned it on, hoping that he wouldn't have too many messages . Forty-six missed calls from a caller named mother and sixty-three text messages. There where times where he knew it was useless to hope.

Justin pocketed the phone and opened the back of his car, sliding the gourd off his shoulder to the sturdy platform and closed the door before it could roll out. He walked to the side of the car and got in hastily , not wanting to even later that he was. He turned his mirror to the road behind him and pulled off the side of the road , homeward bound.

Justin found his thoughts reeling, as he drove a few miles over the speed limit. His thoughts kept turning to what he was going to tell his mother, how he was going to sneak the gourd in the house because leaving it in the car was out of the question , and where the hell he was going to put the thing once he did. His closet seemed like the most logical place, after all, he was the only one who ever looked in there and hidden behind some stuff, it would be practically invisible . As for getting it in the house , Justin knew that he had to hide it somewhere first and retrieve it later that night because he suspected that his parents where waiting at the door for him, note in hand. As for what he was going to tell them , he hadn't the slightest clue but he was always good at making things up on the spot and sounding convincing.

Seeing his driveway , he found that the trip to his house was way shorter than when he went to the beach. Justin pulled up into the driveway and sat in the car before deciding that the best place to keep the gourd for the time being was behind the rose bushes in the walkway. It was too dark outside for anyone to notice anyways. He pulled the gourd out of the car through the front seat so his parents couldn't hear the trunk open and close which would be a dead giveaway . With all the strength he could muster , Justin carried the gourd up the front path as silently as was humanly possible , and , even though his arms where getting scratched painfully, he carefully placed the gourd behind the rose-bush.

Justin saw the door, dreading his mothers' reaction when he would walk through it , and breathed in deeply before approaching it. He pulled the keys from his pocket and softly juggled them into the knob , slowly turning it to the right . It clicked and just as softly as he had slipped it in, he jingled it out, trying to make no noise as he pulled the knob and opened the door. It creaked , loudly , making Justin wince.

"Justin ? It that you ?" His mother came swiftly from the kitchen, Justin's father in tow. saw her son and immediately swept him up in her arms as if she was never going to let him go again. She then took a step back and cupped he hands around his face, barely holding back tears .

she stared into his eyes, with a mix of worry and anger, "where we're you? You weren't in your bed this morning and I find a note on the kitchen counter saying that you'd be back by four , and here it is almost eight-thirty! And you didn't tell anyone where you had gone! What if you had been in an accident or worse!"

"Mary , I'm sure he has a good explanation for all this, right?" Justin's father looked at his expectantly, his eyes piercing Justin's . Justin mind seemed to work on its own as he blurted out, "I was at the beach and I accidentally fell asleep?"

His mother gazed at her husband , eyebrows raised in and expectant way.

"I don't care that you went to the beach, but you need to tell one of us where you are going," Mr. Tuner stated, and after being nudged by his wife he added, " and ask for the car next time. We're going to let this go for now, but in the future this won't acceptable ."

"yes sir," Justin kept his eyes down at his shoes , feeling his father's disappointment breathing down his neck.

"uh, Dad?" Justin asked , "I think I left my backpack in the car, can I go get it?"

"sure, just put the keys back when you get in, your mother and I will be in the kitchen ." And with that Justin turned out the door, waiting a few minutes to make sure that his parents where in the kitchen and out of sight.

The gourd was still behind the rose bushes , right where he had left it. So, carefully picking around the thorns, he managed to maneuver the heavy object without cutting himself too badly and swung it on his shoulders for the third time, not that it felt any lighter this time. He slipped into the house and practically sprinted up the stairs, rounding the corner into his room, and locking the door once he was inside. He opened his closet door, and moved aside the suits and jackets , pulling out the pile of old shoes, and tucked the gourd in the farthest corner, where he was sure that not another living soul would look. After replacing all the shoes and taking some of his dirty clothes to add to the volume of the pile, he closed the closest, and for the first time that day, he felt calm. The gourd was already in his closet , where it was well hidden, and that meant that he could take his time to research more.

Justin sat on his desk chair and opened up his lap top, but as he stared at the black screen, he decided that tomorrow would be a better day to look for more information on the gourd. Anyways, he was drained from all that had happened that day. Justin gazed at the clock on his phone, and even though he thought it was pathetic to go to sleep at ten thirty , he really didn't care. Justin had a feeling as he fell asleep , that he may have just found the biggest clue to his missing childhood and that it was going to mess up his life more than anything ever had.


End file.
